Life as We Know It
by Lentex
Summary: 99.4% of the entire human population is killed when a superflu escapes from a lab. Luckily, Lisa is able to quickly create a cure, saving her and her siblings. Eventually, other survivors begin to flow into Royal Woods, and with the Loud family at the center, a small, new society begins to form as well as all the problems that come with it.
1. Prelude to Disaster

**Lincoln**

 _2:05 PM_

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Lincoln looked up at where Lisa was pointing. She was right.

The sky was a bright orange color, unlike anything he had ever seen before, especially during an early Sunday afternoon such as today. Even just looking through the living room window, as he was now, seeing the sky in such an amazing state was a vivid experience for Lincoln. White, puffy clouds rolled slowly above. Sunlight poured through, illuminating the earth below.

Something big was coming.

"Well, we're off to Lynn's school," said the Loud father, making his way to the front door. He ruffled Lincoln's hair as he passed.

"Lori is in charge until we get back in a few hours. Do as she says," warned Rita. "Try not to blow up the house while we're gone, either." She chuckled nervously.

It was the early afternoon, and the Loud parents had a meeting to attend at Lynn's school. For what reason, Lincoln did not know. They didn't say.

After yelling their goodbyes for the rest of their children to hear, the two made their way out the door. Lincoln, still looking out of the living room window, watched as they drove away in Vanzilla, under the bright, orange, rolling sky.

"Male sibling, I understand that you're not typically one to keep up with world events, but it's a mess out there right now. I fear for our parental units."

She was right. Lincoln didn't watch the news much, but recently, whenever he flipped by CNN or Fox when he searched for the cartoon channel, he saw nothing but chaos. In major cities around the world, there were riots and looting. Royal Woods, like most small towns around the country, had been unaffected for the most part. Still, that didn't make Lincoln any less nervous for his mother and father, traveling all the way to the middle school alone.

The news anchors never told why there was so much disorder. They assured it would pass. Lincoln hoped they were right.

"Loud family, to the living room! _Now!_ "

Lori's voice rang through the house. When she was left in charge, she made sure that her siblings _knew_ it.

Quickly, Lincoln ran to join the line of children already forming. With as many people as there were in the family, the line started at the base of the staircase and ended not until the front door.

The white-haired boy slid into his place in the middle. Not long after, the rest of his siblings fell into line. Lori stood in front of them all, crossing her arms.

"As long as I'm in charge, there will be absolutely _no_ roughhousing. You are all to remain in your room until dinnertime. After that, you'll immediately return to your rooms, and stay there until you fall asleep."

There was a chorus of groans from the line of siblings. Lori, in Lincoln's opinion, was always _way_ too strict when it came from keeping him and his sisters in line. Sure, without her leadership, the house would likely fall apart, but did she really have to be a control freak?

"Is there a _problem?_ "

"No, ma'am!"

"Good! Now, to your rooms! _Go!_ "

With that, Lincoln and his sisters began to stumble over one another trying to run upstairs.

* * *

 **Lynn**

 _2:09 PM_

Lynn Loud Jr. usually loved Sunday afternoons. There was always football on the TV, the weather was almost always perfect for practicing sports in the backyard, and, best of all, the rest of her siblings were usually free. That meant that she would have lots of practice buddies, whether they agreed to help or not.

Today, however, was different. The Loud parents were at Lynn's school, speaking to her principal. Two days ago, during Friday's gym class, her instructor had given the students a soccer ball and set up a scrimmage. Lynn, being the overachiever that she was, put sweat and tears into the game despite the fact that she knew that it was supposed to be pure fun and did not count for anything whatsoever.

She scored goal after goal after goal, celebrating each time. Before long, when class was drawing to an end, Lynn went in for one final point. Without looking, she kicked the ball with all of her might into the direction of the enemy's goalpost. It had ended up hitting one of Lynn's classmates in the face. In fact, it struck so hard, poor Brandon had to take a trip to the hospital; he'd broken his nose.

Lynn's older siblings went to high school. Her younger siblings were either in elementary school, kindergarten, or daycare. The athlete was the only one in her family to currently be attending Royal Woods Middle School, for better or for worse. Because of this, so far, nobody in the family but her knew about what had happened, and Lynn wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Her siblings knew that she was competitive, but this was a new level of bad sportsmanship. How would they look at Lynn if they knew she had sent some poor kid to the hospital over a _gym class_ soccer game?

She certainly wouldn't be viewed in a good light. Lynn knew _that_ much was true.

* * *

 **Luan**

 _2:21_

"You won't tell, will you?"

Luna shook her head. "If Lori asks me where you went, I'll just say that I don't know."

Luan smiled. "Thanks, sis."

In a big family, it was always easy to find someone to cover for you. That became especially important in times such as these.

Luan had planned to meet up with someone at the local park, and was _really_ looking forward to it. Of course, Lori was now in charge, and she never allowed anyone to leave the house. That's why Luan had to do it in secret.

The comedienne slowly opened her door, carefully, not allowing it to squeak. The last thing she wanted to do was attract the attention of Lori.

Slowly, she tiptoed down the hall and to the top of the staircase. One at a time, stair by stair, she crept downstairs. As she went down, Luan saw Lori sitting on the couch, watching television.

 _Oh,_ she _gets to watch TV but the rest of us have to sit in our rooms?_

Now at the bottom of the staircase, Luan got down on her knees and began to crawl into the kitchen, moving as quietly as possible. Before long, she made it to the kitchen door. Success!

The comedienne stood up, opened the door slowly, mindful to not let it creak, before slipping outside and closing it behind her.

The October air was cool as it pressed up against Luan's skin. Even though she wore only her yellow pencil skirt and white blouse, she wasn't chilly. In fact, she quite enjoyed the current climate. October, in Luan's opinion, was the month with the best weather.

The Royal Woods park wasn't too far away. Luan moved quickly, not wanted to stay out long enough to be noticed absent by Lori. That was the _last_ thing she needed.

At last, she arrived. Luan checked her watch. _2:30._ She looked up. There he was, sitting on a park bench.

Nervously, she approached head on, moving closer to Benny, a friend from school and the drama club, whom had agreed to meet her at the park to hang out.

As she moved closer, he looked up at her.

"Hey! Luan!"

Her reply was timid. "Uh, hi."

She shyly took her place next to him on the bench, looking down and away, hands crossed and on her lap.

Benny scooted closer to Luan. Her face grew red.

"What's up?"

"Uh, not much. I had to sneak out to come here cause my oldest sister is charge and, uh, she's a real bitch when she has to watch over us."

Benny laughed. Then he coughed.

Luan loved making people happy, especially people she really liked. She hadn't even tried to make Benny laugh. All she did was tell him her situation at home to make conversation. Still, bringing joy to him made her feel really nice.

With a newfound confidence, Luan looked up at him.

"Benny, what are we?"

"What?"

" _What_ are we… friends?"

He paused. "What do you want us to be?"

Her blush deepened. Luan looked away.

"Maybe… maybe something a bit more?"

He put his hand on top of her's.

Luan's heart stopped. She slowly turned her head, looking up at Benny. Slowly, automatically, the space in between the two's heads began to shrink. Luan closed her eyes, leaning in...

Benny pulled away quickly, coughing loudly into his arm. Disappointment filled Luan. She was so close!

"Shit, sorry about that," he said quietly after his coughing fit.

They did not talk again for a while.

* * *

 **Lori**

 _2:35 PM_

Lori sat on the living room couch, watching television. A new episode of _The Dream Boat_ was on, and her eyes were glued to the screen.

This quickly changed, however, when the TV screen turned to static.

"Oh, come on!"

Technical problems were not uncommon in the Loud house. With eleven children under one roof, things were always breaking down. Still, that fact made it no less bothersome.

Annoyed, Lori stood up from the couch and walked over to the television. She did the standard troubleshooting; the teen checked the cables, checked the DVR, checked the television itself…

 _Odd,_ she thought. Everything appeared to be in working order. What was wrong?

Interrupting her thoughts, the static switched. _Dream Boat_ didn't come back on, though; instead, a man in a dark room stared into the camera.

Lori frowned. What the heck was going on?

"Hello," the man said. "I am here to expose the United States government for covering up a very serious pandemic that threatens us all."

Her interest was piqued. Lori stood in front of the TV, arms crossed, listening closely.

"As you may know, there's been looting and rioting in most major cities across the world. Already, many smaller communities are beginning to be affected, too."

On the screen, footage played of a skyscraper in New York City that was completely covered in fire. The flame was beginning to spread to surrounding buildings, too. Next, the television switched to a video of people dressed head to toe in black, hiding their identities, throwing rocks at car and building windows in Los Angeles.

Lori gasped. She knew that, for whatever reason, things were getting bad in certain places around the country. The teen had no idea that it was _this_ out of control. _Why?_

The man spoke while the footage played. "All of this chaos has been caused by a highly deadly superflu that has recently escaped from a lab. The military and government have been trying to cover it up, but the consequences are quite clear: this flu is highly contagious and very lethal. It has been spreading like wildfire all over the country and world. Ladies and gentlemen, this is _no_ joke. Even if you live in a small town, _stay indoors._ More likely than not, if you don't have it already, you'll—"

" _Open up!_ "

Footage of all of the carnage continued to play. In the background, a booming voice had ordered the broadcaster to open their door. Lori's eyes widened. Was this a _joke?_

"Open up, _now!_ " the voice repeated. "On the order of the United States government!"

Lori listened on in horror as she heard the sound of a door being kicked down, followed by two quick gunshots. The broadcast turned into static, and, after awhile, went back to _The Dream Boat._

* * *

 **This story is based off of Stephen King's** _ **The Stand,**_ **a novel with the same exact concept with, of course, the exception of the Loud children or Royal Woods being involved. You certainly don't have to have read the novel to enjoy this fanfiction, but if you have, you'll be able to pick up on a bunch of references throughout the story.**

 **I won't spend forever setting up the plot. In fact, the next chapter will start after a brief time skip so I can really start getting into the meat of the story that I want to tell.**

 **This is a project unlike any I've started before, and I want to know what you guys think. Feedback, especially negative, will always be welcome and appreciated.**


	2. Natural Selection

Society crumbled. The cities came first, then the suburbs, and eventually even the most rural and remote places around the globe. The superflu did exactly what it was designed to do: spread rapidly and kill.

If you caught the superflu, you died. There was no cure that existed. The process was painful and agonizing.

A handful of individuals, more specifically, 0.6% of the human population, were naturally immune to the disease. Still, out of those spared, not everyone made it. Natural selection is a bitch.

* * *

 **Bobby**

 _1:52 PM_

Roberto Alejandro Martinez-Millan Luis Santiago, Jr., also known more simply as Bobby, stood over his little sister's bed.

She was dead.

So was Bobby's mom, his aunt, his uncle, his grandmother, his grandfather, his cousins… all dead.

The young Hispanic slammed his fist on Ronalda's nightstand in rage.

The past few days had been madness. The Casagrande family had locked themselves indoors after the family store was looted. Fire and murder were common in the streets below. They kept their curtains shut and lights off at all times, no matter how much the younger ones complained about the darkness. It was for their own safety. Ronnie Anne had made a run down to the store to get enough supplies to last her and her extended family quite a few days in their apartment. It was almost like a scene from Anne Frank's diary.

Then, illness struck. Bobby forgot what order his family members fell to the Tube Neck, as he heard it called on TV. All he knew was that his little sister was the last to go, as was made evident by the corpse that now lay in front of him.

He slid down the wall. Bobby sat there for awhile, on the floor, hugging his knees. Eventually, he took out his phone. The blue light hit his face, the only source of illumination in the entire Casagrande apartment. He squinted.

He tried calling Lori. Bobby made five attempts. Each time, nobody answered. He was greeted with only her voicemail.

Giving up, the Santiago boy decided to leave a message, praying that his girlfriend was still alive and would eventually hear it. He tried his best to contain his tears as he talked.

"Hey, Lori, uh, I don't know if you're ever going to hear this, but, uh, my family is dead, and I'm here in Chicago alone. I hope you're having, uh, better luck than me out there."

Bobby didn't know exactly what he was going to say before he started the message, and he still wasn't quite sure. Still, he pressed on. He talked in length about how he and his family had secluded themselves in their apartment. Eventually, he switched topics, and spoke about his favorite memories with Lori. The time they went on their first date, the time they went to the underwater themed school dance together, the night they fell asleep together in the strawberry field.

He finished the message. "I hope we get to see each other soon, Lori." With that, he dropped the call and let go of his cellphone, letting it fall to the ground.

Bobby walked downstairs and came out into the streets. Small fires were littered across the ground. Corpses in copious amounts were strewn all around. If pure carnage existed, Bobby thought, this was it.

There was nothing in Chicago for him anymore. The best thing to do now would be to return to Royal Woods. If Lori was still alive, he'd meet up with her.

A dead looter lay on the ground in front of him, a can of red spray paint in his hand. Bobby picked it up, and, getting an idea, rushed back up to his apartment.

He opened the living room window, using both hands to accomplish this task. Wind lashed at him. Bobby swung his legs outside, and carefully grabbed the ledge above him with both hands, the can of spray paint now in his pocket.

The Santiago boy shimmied his way left of the window before releasing one hand, bringing it to his side. He grabbed the spray paint, shook it, and began to write.

 **BOBBY SANTIAGO - GOING TO ROYAL WOO**

He didn't finish. A strong gust of wind took him by surprise, causing him to plummet to his death below.

* * *

 **Melody**

 _2:06 PM_

Melody Vasquez cried a lot when she lost her family, like any normal seven-year-old would do. Eventually, she stopped crying. It did nothing to bring them back.

Her hometown of Westville, Alabama had many trees, but the tall one in her front yard had always captured her interest the most. She was an energetic and boisterous child. Now, with no one to stop her, she was able to fulfill her desire of climbing it now that her parents were no longer around to hold her back. Mommy and Daddy were taking a really long nap in their room.

Once she reached the top, she was ecstatic. She did it! Her joy, however, was quickly terminated when a morbid thought crossed her mind: _How am I going to get down?_

She didn't allow her resolve to break. Melody died of starvation and dehydration rather than falling to her death.

* * *

 **Anges**

 _4:43 AM_

Mrs. Agnes Johnson, 5th grade teacher at Royal Woods Elementary, sat on her bed. Sunlight poured in brightly through her bedroom window.

For the past few days, she noticed that her classroom grew emptier and emptier as more students stayed home sick. In her many years of teaching, she had seen outbreaks of illness, but nothing _this_ serious.

Anges was a refined woman. She did her best to stay away from mind-numbing media such as television and modern radio. When she finally _did_ check the local news to make heads and tails of what was going on in her community, she learned of the superflu. In Royal Woods, many had begun to call it "Captain Trips".

The town she knew and loved crumbled around her. School closed. Riots began.

Eventually, things grew very quiet.

Mrs. Johnson knew that she, for whatever reason, was somehow immune to the flu. She was around dozens of children five out of the seven days of every week, yet somehow she had managed to never catch. She was one of the very few lucky ones.

But, _how_ lucky? Her purpose in life, inspiring the next generation to grow in succeed in the world, was done. There would be no more classes. Sure, she assumed there were other survivors. If she lived, there must be other people out there that were immune too. If that was the case, Anges knew that _some_ kind of society would form, but it would be nothing like the old one, the one that Mrs. Johnson knew.

When she was younger, Anges would often sit on her bed in her small room while her parents argued in the hallway not even ten feet away from her. They would scream, fight… it got so bad, that one day at age 16, she wanted it all to end. If she had a rope in her room that day, she'd certainly have hung herself. Of course, there was no rope in her room, and life went on.

Still, Mrs. Johnson could not help but to think back to that day many times since it had happened. If she _did_ have a rope, she thought, Anges would have closed that door, fastened a tight knot, and let the screaming stop.

Her parents would be fighting on the other side of her bedroom wall, but with her door closed, Anges would have died in peace in the sunlight pouring through her bedroom window, much like it was today.

The public educator lived alone, now.

Still, she closed her bedroom door before hanging herself.

* * *

 **Chad**

 _8:09 AM_

Chad Darwin was walking the streets of New York City. He saw only corpses.

Bored, he found an ant on the ground and decided to have his fun with it. He popped it's abdomen and watched it run around in circles in great pain.

Before he knew it, an unstable beam from an overhead, ongoing construction project fell on top of his head, killing him.

* * *

 **Rex**

 _2:02 PM_

Some days it was Alex Jones. Some days it was MSNBC. And, if he was at his friend Joseph's house, it was Glenn Beck. Always Glenn Beck.

At just 14 years old, Rex Yondwood was already a political expert. Some people played music. Some wrote. Some did sports. For Rex, his hobby was to follow politics.

Recently, the most exciting thing going on in the world were the upcoming elections in Sri Lanka. Quickly, however, that news was overshadowed by a much more pressing matter: a spreading disease.

It had many names: Blue virus, A-prime, A6, the rales, superflu, tube neck, and, most popular, Captain Trips.

Rex didn't think much of it at first. When he had been listening to Freedom Radio, and he had heard soldiers come in and force the broadcast to be shut down, it quickly became his new primary topic of research.

One thing was clear; the government was trying to cover it up.

He researched more and more, fueled by astonishment and coffee. What he found shocked him. Project Blue was a classified government project with the goal of creating a lethal, fast spreading superflu to be used during wartime. Apparently, something went wrong at the California facility that it was being tested in, and it had begun to spread.

Time went on. Rex saw that effects of the flu unfold. His family died and his small suburban community in Northern Florida crumbled. He watched as the world around him came to a grinding halt.

Miraculously, he never showed any symptoms of the illness. _I must be immune,_ he thought giddily.

One day, while taking a walk to collect his thoughts in an attempt to get over the death of his parents and older brother, a man in the distance spotted him and waved. He began to approach.

Rex extended his hand, surprised to have found another living human. He wore a suit: tie and all. His hair was combed neatly, and the man obviously looked after his health—he was muscular and had a smooth face.

"My name is R-Rex," he said timidly. "I'm surprised that I found another survivor."

The man smiled and returned the handshake. "Patrick Bateman," he said. "But you can call me Pat."

Rex, against his better judgment, couldn't help but to notice a fakeness in Patrick's voice. It sounded… plastic. Like a politician.

"What do you plan on doing, Rex?"

"I… I don't know."

"Well, I was going to head up North. Michigan, probably. Maybe even Canada."

Rex wondered why he was planning to go so far. "Oh, do you have family up there?"

Patrick chuckled. "No… silly." He looked around. "You know, Rex," he said, putting his hand in his inside front suit pocket. "We really have nothing in common."

Rex wondered what he was reaching for. A pen?

Patrick Bateman produced a handgun before pointing it at Rex's head, pulling the trigger, and putting it back in his front suit pocket. Leaving the corpse behind, he began to make his way North.


	3. On the Boarder (Of Family Chaos)

**Lori**

 _11:05 PM_

Lori sat on the living room couch, frantically trying to call Bobby back. Her phone had run out of battery when she had attempted to call her parents countless times, wondering where they were. In the stress of the moment, like an idiot, she forgot to charge her cell phone while making her calls. Of course, during the small window of time while she had no juice, Bobby decided _then_ was a good idea to reach out to her.

He had left her a message describing his situation. Apparently, his entire family had died, but he still out there somewhere. He didn't pick up when she tried to call him back. Lori needed to find him. Soon.

The rest of the family was upstairs, sleeping. At least, they were trying. Because of their current situation, rest eluded many of the Loud children.

The streets outside were completely empty and lifeless. Franklin Avenue wasn't the most popular road in Royal Woods, but there had been _no_ traffic to speak of for the past couple of days, Lori noticed.

The teen had learned about the superflu on Sunday afternoon when a whistleblower had hijacked the television channel she was watching. Starting Monday, she had begun to allow herself and her siblings to stay home from school. She needed everyone in one place just in case things got ugly outside. When people were dying, they had nothing to lose. Lori knew that there was a high chance of killings and violence in the streets.

It was imperative that order remained present in the Loud residence. With eleven children and teenagers living under the same roof, during a disaster, things could grow hairy quickly. Lori needed to budget the few resources they had at the moment and keep everyone in line. The only way to accomplish this was to lie.

Lies, lies, lies. It hurt her to do so, but she had to keep lying for the sake of her family.

Lori told them they couldn't go to school because of a townwide teacher strike.

Lori told them her parents had taken a brief vacation across the state, and that they had kept it a secret from all but herself until they were gone so that the Loud children would not be able to ruin it like they ruined their trip to the spa.

Lori told them they had to stay inside because a nearby chemical plant had exploded during an accident and the outdoor air was dangerous. In fact, it was so bad, every window in the house had to be boarded up with wood, too.

She knew that all of these lies would eventually come tumbling down around her. Still, she needed to keep the family safe and in order, and the only way to accomplish this was to stretch out the lies as long as possible.

That was Sunday, almost a week ago by this point. Needless to say, Lori couldn't keep her siblings in the dark forever. They knew something was off.

They just… knew. Lori could tell.

There was a town meeting. A young chap had knocked on the door informing Lori about it late at night. The teen refused to go, or to even inform her family about it.

 _What's the meeting about?_ she had whispered to him.

 _The flu,_ he said. _Rumor is that a disease broke out and now everyone around the world is dying. The town is banding together to decide what to do._

Hours later, Lori heard Mr. Grouse's car pulling into his driveway next door. She ran out to meet him (quietly, not wanting to be noticed missing by any siblings) and asked him what had happened.

 _We'll be forming a barrier around Royal Woods to stop any sick people from coming in,_ he said. _...we might have to shoot them if they get too close._

Lori asked if he had seen her parents at the meeting.

Her elderly neighbor scratched his chin. _There were so many people there, it's hard to say… but I didn't see them, no._

That same day, the barrier was created. Cars and wood were placed around the perimeter of the town, guarded with volunteers carrying weapons. Still, it was a fruitless effort. Not even a day after the town was secured, and the flu struck. Border guards began to drop dead while on duty. Fires began to spread in the streets, with no healthy firemen to put them out.

Lori knew that her parents were out there somewhere. She also knew, however, that it was not safe at all to try finding them. It was far too dangerous in the streets. Once outstanding citizens of Royal Woods were now lotting and murdering.

None of the Loud children caught the flu. This was the only reason Lori refused to send anyone out in search of the Loud parents. They needed to stay healthy. They said that the flu spread even if you didn't get in contact with the infected, but that must have not been true. Why were all the Loud children healthy?

 _It must be a genetic thing,_ she thought. _If everyone in the town has the flu but us, then Mom and Dad certainly can't get it either, right?_

Now, it was Saturday, six days after Lori had learned of Captain Trips. By now, most members of the community were dead or dying in their homes. The teen felt sick to her stomach knowing that her parents were out there among the carnage. Still, she refused to search for them. They were immune, they _must_ be! All of us are, so they are too! It only made sense.

 _When the chaos dies down,_ Lori thought, _I'll look for them. Bobby, too. I bet they'll all turn up before then, anyway._

* * *

 **Lola**

 _11:36 PM_

Something was… off.

Lola Loud did _not_ like being lied to, and she knew when she was being lied to. Something bad was happening, and Lori wasn't saying what it was.

It was far past her bedtime, but with only Lori in charge, she knew she'd be able to get away with staying up late in her room. Presently, she was having a late-night tea party. Make the tea, arrange the table, seat the guests, would you like a sugar cube with that Mr. Stuffington?

This, of course, was interrupted. Lisa, uninvited, opened the twin's bedroom door before walking in.

Lola huffed. "Do you _mind?_ "

Lisa shrugged. "Elder sibling, did you always have so many achievements on your wall?"

Lola looked at the wall. It was true. She had a wide range of certificates, metals, and pictures of her at pageants.

She looked back at Lisa. "Yeah, why?"

The little scientist shrugged again. "Would Lana like some tea?"

"No way!" came a voice from the other side of the room. Lana, unlike Lola, was trying to get a fair amount of sleep. "That stuff is grody!"

Lisa turned to face the tomboy's side of the room. "Would you drink some if I gave you a dime?"

There was a moment of silence as Lana considered. The little plumber/handyman/automotive engineer was willing to do almost anything if it meant she could get some money in the process.

She left the protection of her covers and hopped down from the bed to the floor. " _Fine,_ " she said. "But just a little."

Lola didn't know why Lisa wanted Lana to drink tea, but she shrugged it off.

* * *

 **Lisa**

 _4:31 AM_

Lisa wasn't an idiot. She knew exactly what was going on.

Project Blue had been in her sights for quite some time. She knew the government was developing a deadly virus, a superflu of mass destruction. Lisa did a lot of things that many would consider "immoral"—such as wanting to remove Lily's vocal cords simply to prevent her from swearing while a daycare worker worked with her—but even _she_ wouldn't develop a deadly, fast spreading virus as a weapon of war.

She feared the possibility of some government hack scientists messing up. They were dealing with the most deadly thing in the world, after all. Something was just bound to go wrong.

Lisa's fears, unfortunately, became justified. As soon as she knew the flu had escaped the facility, she immediately began to work on a vaccine. There were thousands of fast acting enzymes in the A6 virus (street name: Captain Trips). Creating a cure would be impossible, at least with modern technology. It just mutated too fast. Lisa knew the had to work as fast as possible, otherwise, her and her family would be doomed. The only way would be to create a vaccine, making whoever took it immune to becoming infected with the virus.

She succeeded. She always did.

Lisa planted small doses of the vaccine wherever she could. Of course, this had to be done in secret. If the family knew that most of the world population was going to be dying in the coming weeks, the much needed structure and order in the Loud family would evaporate.

When Luan wasn't looking, she had administered a dose to her morning coffee. Lori had the habit of eating lots of chocolate ice cream while watching the _Dream Boat,_ so into the carton went another dose. Lisa had put a dose in all of the milk cartons, so everyone would get some of the vaccine whenever they are cereal or had a glass of milk.

Only two or three doses of the vaccine would suffice just fine enough, but to be sure, Lisa had been distributing them whenever she could. Just now, she had distracted Lola and put some in her tea. She made sure Lana killed a cup, too.

Heh. Killing. There was a lot of that going on recently. Royal Woods residents were generally nice and decent people, but when things got stretched thin, _anyone_ could become a monster.

Most people had locked themselves in their houses, dying in peace. Others, however, weren't as reserved. They spent their last days living by killing and looting.

For as calm as Lisa was, the little genius was nervous of what was to come. With the majority of the world's population dead, how would things change? Zooming in, how would things change for the _Loud family?_

Their parents were dead, Lisa was sure of it. They just picked the wrong place and the wrong time to be when people started to get violent.

Oh well. You can't save them all. There was no point in getting upset over Lynn and Rita's loss. It solved nothing.


	4. End of the Beginning of the End

**Lucy**

 _12:06 AM_

That night, Lucy dreamed.

 _Crawling. Crawling._

 _Crawling on the cold, hard ground._

 _Fire… fire everywhere._

 _Screaming. Yelling._

The dream eventually transitioned, as they often do. In her hand, Lucy held an AR-15. She stood frozen, stuck in place. Stuck in shock.

" _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"_

Lincoln grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her back and forth. Around them, blood rained from a nearby explosion.

" _SNAP OUT OF IT. FIGHT!"_

Automatically, she held up the rifle and began to shoot into the big cloud of smoke and blood.

 _War._

 _War with Boulder._

She jerked awake, sitting up in her bed, clutching her blanket in a cold sweat.

* * *

 **Lincoln**

 _3:45 AM_

Lincoln slipped on his jacket, quietly.

It was almost four in the morning, and everyone in the house was asleep. Now or never.

For the past week, Lori had kept her siblings confined to the house. In fact, they weren't even able to _look_ outside. The windows had been boarded up with wood. Apparently, a nearby chemical plant had exploded. Lincoln didn't believe that. Still, he kept his mouth shut. Tensions were running very high, and the last thing he wanted to do was make things worse.

Something was wrong. His parents wouldn't take a long vacation without first telling their children. Lincoln thought the notion was ridiculous.

That's why, presently, he was slipping on his shoes. He would leave the house and investigate.

He crept downstairs, going very slowly. One noise, and his cover would be blown. He knew Lori was sleeping on the living room couch. She had started to do so ever since the windows were boarded up. Once at the base of the staircase, he tiptoed into the kitchen. The back door farther from Lori, so Lincoln knew that there was less of a chance that his oldest sister would hear him escaping if he left through it.

He left into the night, closing the door behind him.

Lincoln moved slowly across the backyard. Once he was at the fence, he hopped up, grabbed it, and, struggling, pulled himself over. He landed in the grass on the other side.

Standing up, he rubbed his back. _I_ really _need to start working out._

He didn't know exactly where he was going. Maybe Clyde's house? Lincoln's best friend, as well as all other of his contacts, had stopped answering his phone when the entire Loud family lost service. Then again, should he look for his parents first? What if they were in trouble, and he was _already_ too late to save them? He eventually came to a street, and recognized it as Crown Road. From here, it was a short walk to Clyde's house. Maybe they could help him find his mother and father.

Lincoln screamed.

On the ground in front of him, there was a corpse. A young man in his early 20s lay dead in front of Lincoln. Mouth agape, he walked backward slowly.

He saw six more corpses in the street in the 15 minutes it took to get to Clyde's house. _Something was wrong._

He opened Clyde's window, which was left unlocked for him every night. Much to Lincoln's surprise, he was not shocked when he saw Clyde dead in his bed, or even when he made his way to the living room and saw his parents dead, too. Maybe it was because he was used to seeing corpses by now? Or, maybe, it was because in the back of his mind, though he would not admit it to himself, Lincoln suspected something like this to happen.

* * *

 **Luna**

 _5:46 AM_

Luna collapsed onto her bed, shaking her head, trying to make sense of the current situation. When Lori had told the family that there was a chemical explosion, she didn't believe a single word. Despite this, she kept her mouth shut. Assuming that Lori had the family's best interest in mind, then she was only lying for their safety, even if the lie _was_ terrible.

Because of this, Luna went along with it and all of the other lies that Lori told. Days went by. She began to falter in her belief that Lori was only trying to keep the family safe. Something was _wrong,_ Luna could feel it, and she knew that the rest of her siblings (at least the oldest ones and Lisa) could feel it, too.

Being secluded to the house for nearly a week was tough, especially since Luna knew something was going on and her parents were likely in danger. She wanted nothing more than to flip Lori the finger, walk outside, and see what was _actually_ going on. Still, being the third oldest (right behind Leni, who really didn't count) Luna felt responsible for the safety of the family. She continued to assume that Lori's lies were only to keep her and her siblings safe. She was sure if her parents were in danger, Lori would tell them.

Although Luna suspected that most of her sibling, especially the older ones and Lisa, had seen through Lori's lies, nobody spoke out against her. _Fear,_ she thought. They were _scared_ of Lori. She ruled with an iron fist. The past week, she had been useless. Lana spilled a drink, and Lori yelled at her for five minutes straight.

It was Sunday. Exactly seven days had passed since Luna's parents had left, only to never come back. No calls, either. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Now angry, Luna got up from her bed and marched downstairs. Lori had begun to sleep on the couch, likely to stop anyone trying to leave in the nighttime. This had gone on _too long!_ Luna would give her oldest sister a piece of her mind.

* * *

 **Leni**

 _5:49 AM_

Leni poked her head into the hallway. Downstairs, in the living room, she heard yelling. Lori and Luna were arguing.

Leni hated it when her family fought. The Louds were a pretty close family, but they tended to show tough love a lot… whether it be Lola and Lana fighting over what game they were going to play, Lucy and Lynn fighting over a roommate matter, or even Leni herself fighting with Lori over a dress, scuffles were commonplace in the Loud house.

Still, things never got _this_ or of hand. They sounded really mad. Like, _totes_ mad.

Leni sighed. Why couldn't everyone just get along?

* * *

 **Lana**

 _5:55 AM_

"Let's get out of here."

That's what Lana had told Lola about an hour and a half ago. Being trapped in the house for a week, not once being able to see sunlight or even look out the window, had taken its toll of pretty much all of the Loud siblings.

That's why Lana wanted to escape, at least just for a little while. No one had to know. Except for Lola, of course. She was only six, and it was scary to go outside alone.

The two snuck downstairs, and while Lori was distracted by arguing with Luna in the living room, made their way to the kitchen. They left through the back door.

They went around the side of the house, down the Loud family driveway, and into the street.

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know. Not too far, though. How about the park? It's only down the block."

"Okay!"

When Lola saw the first corpse, she screamed.

"Lana! That's a _dead_ guy!"

"I… I don't think so. I think he's just sleeping."

"Nuh-uh! He's dead!"

"Prove it!"

Lana was silent.

"See? You can't prove it! He's just sleeping!"

Lana wasn't sure. "W-Whatever, let's just go…"

When they passed a jewelry store Lola noticed a sign hammered to the door that read _CLOSED INDEFINITELY._

She sounded out the word. "In… In-Def… In-def-initely. Lana, that word means 'forever'. That store is closed forever."

"Yeah. So?"

"It means that everything inside is _free!_ "

"Uh, I don't think—"

But it was too late. Lola had already run inside of the store.

Lana sighed.

* * *

 **Lynn**

 _6:02 AM_

Back home, friction was rising.

Luan and Lori's argument drew the attention of many siblings, mainly the older ones. Soon enough, nearly everyone (with the exception of Lincoln and the twins) were fighting and bickering.

Lynn was the only one not to be involved. She sat at the top of the staircase, content with simply listening. She knew that Lori had lied about her parents going on a vacation. Lynn knew that they had left for her school, and had not returned since. Still, she remained quiet, not wanting to escalate tensions.

"Oh," said Luan, "so you expect us to believe that Mom and Dad went on a vacation without telling us?"

"It's true!" cried Lori. "The _last_ time you guys tagged along on one of their getaways was when we went to the spa, and we _all_ know how _that_ ended."

"Bull!" shouted Luna. "You had just as much to do with ruining that trip as we did.

Lucy raised her fist. "Mom and Dad wouldn't leave us for an entire week without telling us. Lori, something fishy is going on."

"Yeah!" agreed Luna. "Besides, what's this BS with the chemical planet "exploding"? Did you honestly expect us to believe that?"

"Uh, guys?" said Leni.

Lori gritted her teeth. "It's true. The chemical plant literally exploded, I'm just keeping you guys safe. Am I such a bad guy for _caring_ about all of you?"

"Guys?" said Leni, a bit louder.

She was ignored yet again as the Louds continued to argue.

" _Guys!_ "

The room fell silent. It was rare for Leni to yell, so, naturally, something was off.

"Where's Lincoln and the twins? I checked every room upstairs, they're not there!"

Quiet murmuring made its way around the room; the argument took a pause. Even when things got heated among the Loud children, they still cared greatly for one another, especially the little ones.

With perfect timing, the door flung open. Lola and Lana ran in, both on the verge of tears. Lynn noticed that Lola was wearing many bracelets on her arm and many necklaces around her neck. None of them looked inexpensive.

 _Where the heck did she get those?_

"Guys! Where _were_ you? What happened!?"

The twins ran into Leni's arms. "We… we were sick of being stuck inside for so long, so me and Lana decided to go to the park… but… there were dead people! On the street!"

At this point, Lola had broke down crying. Lana's lip was trembling.

Luna's eyes widened. "Bodies?"

Lori was helpless to do anything but watch as all of her siblings began to slowly shuffle out of the house and outside, about to learn the ugly, ugly truth that she had tried hiding for the past week. Lynn fell in line, curious.

Eventually: "Lori, you have a lot of explaining to do."


	5. Bateman's Party

**Luan**

8:05 AM

Luan sat on the living room couch, swinging her legs. She awaited Lori to finish getting ready upstairs. Even now, the eldest Loud continued her normal routine. Showering, combing her hair, putting on deodorant (was all of that really necessary? During the apocalypse? Really?), etcetera.

The older sisters sat on the couch, awaiting Lori. Some sipped coffee, some chewed on toast

that was made by Lincoln that morning, some chatted softly.

Luan thought that there would be a lot of time for fooling around after the flu had struck. Surprisingly, however, there had been lots of _work_ to do recently. Sure, all five older sisters were out most of the day every day in search of their parents, but that still left five other kids home not included Lincoln. Even then, there was much that needed to be done. Mom and Dad's jobs all had to be taken up, and now that calling in a plumber or electrician was no longer an option, a whole slew of brand new tasks were created. Yeah, Lana was pretty good at that stuff, but she was only six. There were a _lot_ of things that needed or would be needing repairs, some of them too advanced for the twin to handle.

Lori tried her best to cook for the family, but this had proven to be more difficult than anticipated. She knew making food for eleven people would be difficult, but it was even harder than expected. Lynn had begun to do most of Mom's morning tasks, such as making coffee to get everyone going and bringing in the morning newspaper… oh, wait. That didn't need to be done anymore. Leni had become a mother figure, keeping the morale of the younger sisters high when she was home to do so. This job, Luan thought, was the most important.

Lola, the only younger sister to currently be awake, strolled by. She wore shiny necklaces, bracelets, and even a gold watch. None of them looked inexpensive.

Leni eyed her little sister's accessories. "Lola, where did you get those?"

"From the store. I grabbed them when me and Lana went out." Her last words were quieter than the rest. It was still a fairly traumatizing experience for her to have seen corpses during her little trip, and even remember that day sent chills down her spine.

"How did you pay for them?"

"Uh, I didn't."

"You _stole?_ "

"Does it matter? They don't belong to anyone anymore."

Leni frowned. "That doesn't mean you can just take them."

Lola giggled. "That's _exactly_ what it means, silly."

Lincoln walked by, going to the kitchen. Probably to finish making breakfast, Luan thought. The younger sisters didn't need to wake up as early as the older ones, since they didn't go out searching every day. It was a bit easier for Lincoln to prepare the morning meals now that people ate in two waves rather than one.

The day that all of the Loud siblings had discovered the truth about the disease (gee, how long ago was that? Two days? Three?), they had begun to send out search parties for their parents. Only Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn went. There were too many bodies out there for little eyes to see. It was hard enough for the _older_ sisters to stomach.

 _We'll all get used to it soon,_ Luan thought. _People can… adapt. Habit does funny things to people._

Lincoln insisted that he should be allowed to go, too. He cited the fact that he had already seen all the bodies because he had snuck out of the house early in the morning that day and went to Clyde's. Still, Lori insisted that he would be more useful by staying behind and looking about the younger sisters, especially Lily. Leni usually did that, but they needed a caretaker during the daytime, too.

 _We're probably the only people in the world to have so many survivors in our family,_ Luan thought. It was true. The Loud children were more lucky then they would ever know to have a sister as smart as Lisa. Without her… well, they wouldn't be alive. The day that they found out about the plague, Lisa had explained that she had been secretly giving the Louds doses of a vaccine.

 _You_ knew _about Captain Trips,_ Lori had yelled, _but you didn't tell us?_

 _Letting you know so soon would only cause unnecessary panic,_ she explained. _I wanted to wait until the streets weren't dangerous._

 _You could have saved more people! You just sat by, knowing everyone was dying?_

Lisa rolled her eyes. _Even if I tried to save others, my efforts may or may have been successful. I only focused on my immediate family, ensuring_ they _survived. It was a difficult decision, but a logical one._

Everyone was pretty mad at Lisa for not telling anybody about the flu. Logically, though, it made sense… she wanted to make sure she and her family survived, and trying to save other people made that less likely.

 _I guess she can't save anyone,_ Luan thought.

Their parents were still out there in Royal Woods, and they were immune, too, thanks to the little scientist. It was just a matter of finding them… and finding them soon enough.

Finally, Lori began to make her way downstairs. In her hand, Lori held a clipboard. A piece of paper was attached depicting the streets of Royal Woods. Searched areas were marked. Luan gave credit where credit was due: Lori was pretty good at planning out search routes.

"Well, are you all ready?"

Luan nodded.

They made their way to the door. Lori opened it, and a cool breeze hit Luan. It was early October when the flu struck, so, naturally, it was a bit chilly outside. Nothing they couldn't manage, though. In a couple of weeks, it would be Halloween… not that anyone would be around to celebrate it. Luan made a mental note to grab a couple of bags of candy from the store for the younger ones when she got the chance. There was a big sale, after all. Everything in Royal Woods was free at the moment!

Before everyone was even out the front door, the lights in the Loud residence began to flicker.

"Uh-oh," Luan said quietly. _That can't be good._

Suddenly, the house went dark. Royal Wood's power had gone out.

* * *

 **Patrick**

12:47 PM

Patrick Bateman worked at Pierce & Pierce, an investment bank in New York City on Wall Street.

At least, he _did._ Then, the flu struck. He was vacationing in Florida when it had happened. People just started getting sick and dying. Patrick, though, stayed healthy. Soon, he was alone. So, so alone in the world.

 _North,_ he thought. _I'll go North._

Nothing in particular compelled him to do it. It sounded like a good idea. At first, he considered heading back to NYC, but… no, no. Too many… bad memories were there. Right before he left, Patrick had had a major existential crisis.

He had killed his co-worker, Paul Owen… at least, he thought he did! In fact, he was almost sure! Paul had invited Patrick to dinner. See, the thing was that Paul thought that Patrick was actually someone else named _Markus._ It only made sense. Patrick looked like him. He wore the same type of suit, the same glasses, and he even went to the same barber, although Markus had a slightly worse haircut.

Anyway, Paul had asked Markus, who was really Patrick, to dinner. They ate, and Paul got really intoxicated. Patrick lead Paul back to his apartment Paul collapsed drunkenly into Patrick's chair, and using this as an opportunity, Patrick grabbed an axe that he had stored in his bathtub and put it right through the top of Paul's skull.

That was that, or at least Patrick thought so. A few days later, he lost it. He confessed everything to his lawyer over a phone message one night in his office. He admitted to killing twenty people… maybe forty! Patrick even went into detail on some of the killings. He talked about he had chased a girl down his apartment hallway with a chainsaw… but he had to! She almost got away!

He thought for sure he was done. Patrick had told him everything.

Then… something weird happened. The next morning, Patrick had been visiting a bar with his friends. He saw his lawyer there, and decided to talk to him.

"So, uh, Carnes. Did you get my message?"

He paused before putting on a smile. "Jesus, yes! It was hilarious. Bateman killing Paul and the escort girls… that's _rich._ "

"W-Wait, Carnes… what do you mean?"

"I'm not one to badmouth anyone. Your joke was amazing… but, come on, man. It had one fatal flaw. You're a dork. Such a boring, spineless lightweight. You'd have trouble picking up an escort girl, let alone _killing_ one." He laughed.

"Wait. Stop," Bateman said, putting his hands on his lawyer's shoulders. "You don't seem to understand. You're not really comprehending any of this. I killed him. I did it, Carnes. I chopped Owen's fucking head off. I tortured dozens of girls. That whole message I left on your machine was _true._ "

"Excuse me," he said, trying to ignore Patrick's outburst. "I really must be going."

" _No!_ " Patrick shouted. "Now, Carnes. Listen to me. Listen very, very carefully. I _killed_ Paul Owen. _And I liked it_. I can't make myself any clearer."

Carnes remained silent. "But that's simply not possible," he eventually said, quietly. "And I'm not finding this amusing anymore."

"It never was supposed to be!" Patrick bellowed. "Why _isn't_ it possible?"

"It's just not," he said, eyeing Patrick worriedly.

"Why not, _you stupid bastard?_ "

He stared at Patrick as if they were both underwater. "Because… I had… dinner… with Paul Owen… twice… in London… just ten days ago."

After they stared at each other for what seems like a minute, Patrick finally had the nerve to say something back to him but his voice lacked any authority and he wasn't sure if he believed himself when he told Carnes, simply, "No, you… didn't." But it came out a question, not a statement.

"Now, Patrick," Carnes said. "If you'll excuse me."

He walked away.

Presently, Patrick shook his head.

 _Nope. I'm not going back to New York._

He wasn't sure what state he was in, but if he had to guess, Patrick would say western North Carolina, maybe eastern Tennessee. He was in a fairly thick forest.

" _Do it again, General Sherman,"_ he heard somebody mumble.

Patrick froze in place. If he wasn't insane, he could have sworn he had just heard a voice.

"Hello?" he called out.

A man emerged from the woods. Patrick's first thought was to pull out his handgun and kill him, but… there was something inviting about this man, something tangible. He wanted company, too.

"You… you're the first person I've seen in weeks," the stranger said, a look of relief on his face.

And that's how Patrick Bateman met Lee Atticus.

* * *

 **Dixie**

 _12:54 PM_

Lee "Dixie" Atticus was a southerner, and proud of it.

When he had first heard about the flu, he was listening to an old Confederate war song ( _Bury Me In Southern Ground_ ) and reading the video comments while doing so.

 _ **HammyBoi124:**_ S _uch a beautiful flag! Keep her flying!_

 _ **Big19Mouth:**_ _Long live the South ! From Russia with love_

 _ **xX_Benghazi_XOo:**_ _Dont you let that flag touch the ground_

 _ **Xulat124:**_ _northern born, southern at heart_

 _ **BoogieWoogieFlu:**_ _Live in Ohio but I will always respect the south_

 _ **StandUpNotDown:**_ _Hailing in from Loudoun, Virginia._

A gunshot arrested his attention. For the past few days, things had been pretty crazy across the world, or so he heard on the news. He'd never expected, however, to have problems in his small Southern town located in the heart of Alabama.

A man in his late fifties, clearly drunk, was messing around with a revolver.

"Whoops!" he cried, laughing. "Almost shot my foot off!"

" _I'll be dogged,_ " muttered Dixie.

He watched as the man outside spun the chamber of the revolver around. His expression suddenly turned serious.

Dixie watched in horror as the man shot himself in the head, right in the street!

His town was small and cozy, and everyone knew most' everyone. It hurt Dixie greatly to watch it fall into chaos as everyone began to die from the flu. He, for some reason, never caught. Dixie thanked God for his healthy immune system.

There was nothing left for him in his hometown. He had grown up there his entire life, and had planned to live out the rest of his life in it (he was even going to get married next Spring!) but now that everyone was dead, there was no point. He could have stayed where he was, alone, having a personal pity for the rest of his life, or he could have packed up his things and set foot to find other survivors.

He put on his Confederate flag baseball cap, and chose the latter option.

 _Northeast,_ he thought. He'd head in the direction of New England. It was heavily populated, after all. He _had_ to find someone there. If not, he'd meet someone on the way.

Eventually, while traveling through a forest, he met a man wearing a black suit and red tie.

* * *

 **Elmer**

 _7:08 PM_

Elmer Climp was a schizophrenic.

He had been able to hide his condition relatively well. For the most part, he acted normal. That, of course, was not the case forever. He had been wandering mindlessly in the night streets a day or two before Captain Trips made its debut. He was a college student in North Carolina, and taking a walk off of campus to get some fresh air. The stress and pressure of college had not been any help to his condition. In fact, it caused his biggest breakdown ever.

During his walk, he saw a cat on the sidewalk. He approached it, only to be clawed! He was positive that the cat was placed by the government to attack him. The FBI, the CIA… _someone_ was after him. He was sure of it.

He rushed to the closest house, which happened to have its garage open. He walked inside, looking for a pair of nail clippers. He needed to get the tracking device out of his skin before **THEY** tracked him down. He began to rummage through the kitchen cupboards.

A man in a robe walked into the room, his eyes widening when he saw Elmer. He asked what he was doing in his house.

"I'm just looking for a pair of nail clippers," he said, not looking up. "I won't take long."

The man in the robe asked, again, what Elmer was doing in his house.

"I need to get something out of my skin, so I just came in to borrow some nail clippers," Elmer said, now frustrated. Why was it so hard for the man to understand?

A woman came into the kitchen, holding a pair of tweezers up for Elmer to grab.

" _No,_ " he said, gritting his teeth. "I need _nail clippers._ Not tweezers."

Time was running out. How long would it be until **THEY** tracked Elmer down? What were **THEY** planning to do with him?

"Nothing good," he spoke out loud.

The man grabbed his home phone from off of the wall and began to dial a number. Meanwhile, Elmer searched a new drawer. Aha! He found what he was looking for.

He brought the nail clippers to his arm to remove the tracking device, but he saw nothing there. Still, he clipped out a tiny piece of flesh to be safe.

Eventually, the police detained him. He began to resist violently.

" _NO!_ " he cried. **THEY** had found him! The police were taking him to **THEM**!

They locked him up in a room and questioned him for days. Where do you live? Do you have a family? Are you ill? Eventually, people began to stop coming in to question him. There was a window on the door to his room, and he looked out. Everyone outside was dead.

The door in his room didn't extend all the way to the ground; there was a small gap in between the bottom of the door and the floor. Luckily, a worker's keys were _just_ within reach of Elmer. He grabbed them, left the building, and began to wander. He had no idea where he was going, but as long as he was getting away from **THEM** , he was happy.

He found a 4-wheeler, and decided to go northwest. He'd be able to get the farthest away possible from North Carolina that way. If he went far enough, **THEY** wouldn't be able to find him.

Eventually, he met two men. One in a business suit, and one with a Confederate flag baseball cap. He was hesitant to trust them at first (what if they were working for **THEM**?) but they seemed friendly enough. He'd keep an eye on them, though.


	6. Band of Misfits

**Lola**

 _2:05 PM_

During the end of the world, or the apocalypse, or the end days, or whatever the heck was going on, Lola imagined that the world would be dark. There would be no sun. The sky would be red. Big, dark clouds would float ominously above.

That, however, was not the case. Presently, the outside was bright and sunny. Birds chirped. Leaves rustled in the wind. It was so pretty, one might forget that most people on Earth had died within the last week.

Lisa and Lori said it was the government's fault. Lola really didn't know much at all about how the government worked. Before the flu, when she heard her parents complain about the "government", she imagined a fat man sitting behind a desk smoking a cigar. How could one man be capable of wiping out so many people?

Lola had cried a lot since she discovered the truth. She had many reasons to cry. Her parents were missing, all her friends were dead, and, life as she knew it was over. There would be no more pageants. No more school.

Eventually, though, she stopped crying. How did it help? It didn't. Her older sisters didn't cry, at least not in front of Lola. They spent hours every day searching all over town for their parents. They were useful. Why couldn't Lola be useful? She was useless.

She'd work _extra_ hard to change that, thought, starting _now._ The pageant princess jumped down from off of her bed, and walked into the hallway. Ever since the Loud residence's power had gone out, the Loud siblings had been illuminating the house with battery powered electric lanterns. The ones they had now had come from the basement. They were stored only for an emergency, and were cheap; the battery needed to be changed every day.

Lola made her way down the stairs. She went through the kitchen, stopping at the basement door. She took a deep gulp. The basement was dank, dark, cold, and scary. She _hated_ going down there.

Still, she needed to. She needed to be useful.

Sucking in a breath of air, Lola opened the door and slowly began to go downstairs, taking one step at a time, moving carefully but with purpose.

Lola was halfway down when she started to gain confidence. _Hey,_ she thought, _this really isn't that bad._ Of course, with that thought, the door creaked shut behind her. Lola turned around, her eyes widening in horror as she saw the door close by itself.

 _NO!_

Dumb, dumb, dumb. She lived in this house for all six years of her life, but sometimes Lola forgot it was a real piece of junk. Many of the doors, including the basement door, had bad hinged and closed by themselves unless propped open by something heavy.

She froze in place, paralyzed with fear. The door closed in front of Lola, powerless to do anything. Before long, she was alone in the dark.

She stood there, on the stairs, for some time. Fear didn't come to her all at once - it slowly consumed her, starting at her toes, making its way up her entire body until, finally, she was overtaken. She felt like she was about to cry. She wanted to scream for help. She wanted to scream for her mother.

Her mom wasn't around, though. She was out there, somewhere in Royal Woods, in danger.

Her paralysis broke. Lola decided that she would overcome her fear. _She_ was in control. She was Lola Loud, not some scaredy cat! Any other day, and she would be crying for help, but not now. She needed to be more mature. Her whole family was doing their best to get by in this difficult time, so she would, too.

By now, Lola's eyes had slightly adjusted to the dark. Carefully, she made her way down the rest of the staircase. Walking to the storage cabinets, she felt around until she found a package of batteries. Grabbing them, she turned around, walking slowly to find the base of the stairs and leave.

 _That wasn't so bad,_ Lola thought once at the top of the stairs.

* * *

 **Luna**

 _4:36 PM_

When the power went out, running water became a thing of the past. No more hot showers, no more washing dishes in the sink, no more fresh drinking water.

That's why, now, Luna was carrying a gallon of water. It came in a plastic, clear cylinder, and looked not unlike a water container that would be found in an office building—in fact, that's exactly where she got it. Dad still had his ID card to his old office building, and it was only three blocks away, so that's where Luna got the water from. Sure, she could have just broken a shop window or something to get water from a closer location, but breaking glass was dangerous and, for some reason, Luna still felt bad about the idea of breaking into a store, even if it was vacant. The walk to the office wasn't too bad, anyway, so Luna didn't have a problem with making the trek.

Once she made it to the front yard of the Loud residence, she set the gallon down and sat on it, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. Man, water was _heavy._ She might as well have been carrying a briefcase full of rocks.

Lori stepped outside onto the front porch, leaning on the railing.

"Hey," she said, "bring that inside."

Luna gritted her teeth. Ever since the flu struck, Lori had become three times as controlling (if that was _possible_ ). It was starting to get on her nerves.

"Yeah, I was about to," Luna said, "I'm just taking a quick breather."

"Well, we're thirsty. Get it in here."

Luna stood up, clenching her first. "I said. Hold. _On._ "

"It's only two meters. Can you really not make it?"

"I don't see _you_ hauling ass all over town."

"Yeah, well I don't play shitty music or style my hair after Ellen, so I'm _glad_ we don't have much in common."

Luna wanted nothing more than to charge at Lori, and knock her face in. _That_ would show her. Still, it wasn't a good idea to be fighting. Tensions were high, sure, but the entire family was in a risky situation. They couldn't be brawling whenever they got mad. They all _needed_ each other. The younger siblings wouldn't last a week on their own without the guidance of the older ones.

Lily, Lola, Lana, Lucy… they were good kids. Really good kids. They didn't deserve to suffer just because Lori was being a bitch or because Luna couldn't control her temper.

 _For them,_ Luna thought as she took the water inside. If Lori kept pushing it, though, she may just snap.

* * *

 **Lisa**

 _6:13 PM_

Charles walked into Lisa's room. Lisa petted him.

Captain Trips killed not only humans, but domestic animals, too. Dogs, cats, gerbils— they, too, fell victim to the superflu. It was designed to attach to their genetic structure. Wild animals, however, like snakes, were safe. Whoever designed the A6 virus did so with domestic animals in it's iron sights, not just humans. Either that, or it was just a matter of chance.

Why? God might know. Lisa did not.

At first, the little scientist had decided to not bother with vaccinating the Loud family's pets. She had thirteen people to worry about, and she would _not_ fail in her endeavor to save them from the flu. Saving the pets, too, would only get in the way.

She caved in, though, when she saw Lana petting Charles. Lisa was a mostly apathetic individual (currently, the missing state of her parents did not bother her nearly as much as she knew it should), but seeing how much love Lana had for the Loud family's pet dog made her feel warm inside. It made her want to save them.

And, so, she did. Vaccinating animals wasn't nearly as hard as vaccinating humans. She could crush up a solid form of the vaccination and pour it right over their food while they watched, and they would still eat it up. They didn't know any better.

Charles wagged its tail and walked off. Time to get back to work.

Right now, Lisa was working on trying to get into contact with other survivors. She was sure they were out there. The flu, even as effective as it was designed to be, couldn't kill _everyone._ After running a few simple tests, the little scientist concluded that about 0.06% of the population would be natural survivors of A6. Everyone's internal structure was different, and some resisted the particular type of pathogens that were in Captain Trips. Life ain't fair, huh?

She had worked with the radio for the past couple of days with no luck. It wasn't very entertaining to sit by the transmitter, flipping through channels, only to hear static. Still, it was a task that needed to be done. Even if she got bored, Lori would make Lisa get back to work. Everyone, except Lily, Lana, Lola, and Lisa, had been assigned something to do.

As much as Lisa considered Lori a control freak, even she had to acknowledge that she was keeping them alive pretty well.

"Is anyone there?", Lisa said emotionlessly. "I repeat, can anyone hear this message?" She had been repeated the same phrase quite a bit for the past couple of days. Could you really blame her for doing so in monotone?

" _Yes! This is Patrick Bateman. Who am I speaking to?_ "

Lisa jumped in shock. Was it her imagination, or did someone actually just _respond_ to her?

"T-This is Lisa Loud, do you read me, Patrick?"

" _Yes, I do. Nice to meet you, Lisa. Where are you? Me and the boys are getting tired wandering around out here… maybe you have a hotel in town we can stay in for the night?_ "

A smile spread across her face.


	7. Hole Lot of Problems

**Lincoln**

 _4:30 AM_

In the next two weeks, lots of people began to move into Royal Woods.

The first group consisted of three people. They had made contact through the radio, and, thanks to Lisa, who had been listening out for survivors, they were able to meet the Loud family. They introduced themselves as Patrick, Dixie, and Elmer. The three of them each picked a house near the same street as the Loud residence.

That day, Lincoln asked Elmer why he decided to move in to town.

"You guys are the biggest group of survivors I've seen since the flu struck. I don't want to wander around my entire life… I might as well settle down, and why not here where there's lots of other people?"

There was something… off about Elmer. He didn't always make full eye contact with Lincoln, and when he did look at him, it was as if he was suspicious of him. Lincoln simply chalked this up as Elmer still being shaken up from Captain Trips. He must have lost his entire family, friends, and community. Most people did. It was then that Lincoln remembered just how lucky he was to have a sister like Lisa. Without her… he'd be dead. If not, he'd be alone, and have been forced to watched his family die. He didn't want that.

Lisa continued to man the radio, sometimes trading off with one of the older sisters when she needed a break. More and more survivors trickled into the town. It was now the middle of October, and Lincoln was surprised at just how many people were living in Royal Woods. He eventually stopped being able to recognize everyone. There must have been at least thirty, maybe forty.

The Royal Woods mall was pretty close to the Loud residence; only three blocks away. It became the main hub of activity for Royal Woods. Supplies that were scattered around the town, such as batteries, food, water, clothing and even weapons (you never know who could lumber into the town) were all moved there. Everything was free, of course. In fact, paper money became worthless.

The new community worked hard. Volunteers began to remove bodies from the homes and streets and either burn or bury them. Broken street lights and windows were repaired (Lana, even though she was only six, was a big help with that task). Abandoned cars were driven out of the streets and sidewalks.

Progress was being made, and fast. Still, though… the Loud parents were missing. Hope began to diminish among the Loud siblings that they'd ever be found. Presently, a sibling meeting was being held in Lori's room about that very topic.

"They have to be out there somewhere!" cried Leni.

Luna closed her eyes and shook her head. "I… I don't think so. It's been almost three weeks since they went missing."

"What if they're just in a different town?" asked Lucy.

"That's certainly a possibility," said Lisa, "but what motive would they have for that?"

"Yeah," agreed Lola, "There were going to Lynn's school for some reason. Why would they leave Royal Woods?"

Lincoln stole a glance at Lynn. He, like most of the Loud siblings, wondered why his mother and father were going to her school. Lincoln had asked them when they told him, but they refused to give a reason. Lynn, too, swore she didn't know, but Lincoln was beginning to wonder if that was really true or not. Right now, she looked really shaken. Everyone was (after all, most of the world had just died not too long ago) but Lynn, in particular, was the worst.

She was hiding something. Lincoln wanted to know what.

When the meeting ended, Lincoln asked Lori permission to head on down to the arcade, half expecting her to deny his request. To his surprise, though, she actually said yes. Smiling, Lincoln made his way to the garage and hopped on his bike. He put on his helmet (a good habit that he had picked up because of nagging from his father… his father that was now missing). The strap made a satisfying click! when Lincoln connected it.

The arcade had always been Lincoln's favorite place to be. Now that money was worthless, he could round up a bunch of quarters and use them to play as many games as he wanted in a row. As it turned out, there were some advantages to the world ending.

Before he made it to his destination, however, he came to a grinding halt; Lincoln spotted a corpse. It was propped up, it's back resting on the trunk of a tree. Normally, this would have greatly disturbed Lincoln. Now, though, after seeing so many bodies… it was nothing out of the ordinary. Just another day at the office. Even then, though, it wasn't exactly easy for Lincoln to look at a dead person.

Strange, he thought. There were no other corpses on the street, so people must have already cleaned this area. I guess they missed one.

He looked at it for awhile, unsure what to do. Eventually, Lincoln decided to bury it. It could be awhile before anyone else did it. He wanted to pitch in to the new community, and, as an 11-year-old, there weren't few many ways to do this. He didn't exactly like the idea of burying a dead body… but the idea of him being useless haunted him even more.

Luckily, there was a shovel in a nearby garage. He wasn't the strongest boy, so it was a bit heavy in his hands, but it would suffice. Lincoln made his way back to the tree and began to dig. He thought it would be a quick and easy task, taking twenty minutes at most, but as it turned out, digging was hard. Not even five minutes in, and the poor boy was covered in sweat. There were rocks in the way that made it difficult to make progress, and if he took too big of a load at a time, he would accidentally falter and lose his grip on the shovel.

He'd been at it for half an hour (although he thought at least an hour had passed), and he wasn't even a foot deep yet. From what he heard from Lisa, Lincoln needed a hole at least six feet deep to properly bury the corpse. He'd be here all day! The thought of giving up went through his mind, but Lincoln didn't want to fill it back in. All of his hard work would have been for nothing. He couldn't just leave it, either. It was close to the sidewalk, and somebody could break their leg if they stepped into it while they weren't looking. Call Lincoln paranoid, but it wasn't like there were any doctors in Royal Woods anymore. Something as minor as a cold or a broken leg could easily result in death.

"Need a hand?"

Lincoln turned. A man with dark hair, probably around forty years old, stood in front of him.

"Y-Yeah, this is harder than I thought."

He began to help Lincoln. Together, they made significant progress. While they worked, they talked. At first, the topic of their past lives did not come up in their conversation. Only recently had Captain Trips struck… it was still a touchy subject for most. They spoke of Royal Woods, and the society that was beginning to develop. Lincoln learned that a meeting was going to be held at the mall in two days. That was a relief to hear. After all, there were nearly forty people in town, now. Sooner or later, they needed to organize if they wanted to get things efficiently running. There was a lot that needed to be done, after all. Most importantly, they needed to get the water running (Lincoln was getting sick of pooping in the woods), they needed to get the electricity back online, they needed to finish removing the corpses from the town, they needed to set up a health clinic, they needed to organize the available resources, and they needed some sort of government. What if a murder occurred? Right now, there was no one to uphold the law. Hell, there was no law at the moment.

Of course, all of this was easier said than done. Right now, Royal Woods had no plumbers, electricians, doctors, or policemen. That needed to change before somebody broke their arm or before somebody got drunk and accidentally backed their car into a pedestrian.

After what seemed like an eternity, the hole was finished. Together, Lincoln and Gary respectfully lowered the corpse into the ground. Picking back up their shovels, they buried it before wiping the sweat off of their foreheads.

"Not bad, kid," Gary said, smiling. "You did good. Maybe I should take you out for ice cream."

Lincoln chuckled at the joke. Obviously, all of the ice cream in Royal Woods had melted by this point. No power means no refrigeration. The only food Lincoln had for the past couple of weeks had come out of a can.

Gary held out his hand for a shake. Normally, Lincoln would be nervous and timid around somebody he had just met, especially an adult like Gary… but, after Captain Trips had struck, things were different. People were friendlier to one another. There was no reason to cheat or steal when resources were limited, after all. In a way… the superflu had actually done some good for society.

Lincoln shook Gary's hand, and then went to the arcade.

* * *

 **Lynn Sr.**

 _2:42 PM_

 _"She's always been competitive," Rita was saying, "but this is ridiculous. She needs to learn."_

 _Lynn stared ahead at the road, waiting for the traffic light to change to green. He gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter than normal. "What are you suggesting?"_

 _"We need to ground her, obviously. I was thinking a week or two. This is serious."_

 _"That seems a bit… extensive."_

 _"If we don't nip this in the bud, it's going to happen again. What if she gave that kid a concussion? We'd be footing the medical bill, you know."_

 _Lynn sighed in a way that resembled a deflating tire. "I'll think about it."_

 _The light changed, and the van lurched forward. The Loud father was nearing the middle school, where he had been called to discuss his daughter's recent incident. Apparently, she was too aggressive during a gym class soccer game. It was so bad, she'd broken somebody's nose._

 _He frowned. His daughter had always given 110% of her effort while playing sports, and he was proud of her for that… but sometimes, she just took it too far. Kids make mistakes. She'd learn for this, and hopefully her lesson would make her think twice next time before going all out in a gym class soccer match._

 _As he drove, Lynn noticed that there was surprisingly little traffic. Sure, it was a lazy Sunday afternoon, but where was everyone? During the entire ride so far, he had only seen about ten other cars. Right now, he was driving on top of Colby Cliff. The road was thin and immediately to the left, behind a guardrail, was a very steep drop off. For such a small road, Colby Cliff usually had lots of cars on it due to the fact that it was the only way to get to the Northern part of Royal Woods, where the middle school was. One of the mayor's biggest campaign promises was to expand the road to help traffic. Of course, he never did that. Corrupt bastard._

 _Interrupting his thoughts, Lynn and Rita's eyes grew wide as a man ran right onto the road! Fear quickly filled Lynn as he slammed down on the brakes while turning the steering wheel as fast as he could. The van spun around on the road, almost about to tip over on its side._

 _Rita let out a loud scream._

 _Luckily, Lynn was able to avoid hitting the guardrail. The van came to a screeching halt. It was now sideways on the road, it's length blocking the entire narrow street. It bobbled back and forth for a short while before finally stabilizing._

 _"Holy shit!"_

 _For a moment, all was silent. That could have ended badly. Lynn and his wife could have just died._

 _Overcome with rage, Lynn flung open the door and started to storm over to the man._

 _"You idiot! You could have just killed us!"_

 _As Lynn neared, the man did not move. "We're already dead!" he bellowed. "Go out and enjoy the rest of your life while you can, you stupid bastard! I sure am!" Before the Loud father could get closer, the man reached behind his back and grabbed a shotgun that he had strapped to his body._

 _Lynn froze, once again, in fear._

 _The man aimed upward and began to aimlessly fire shots into the air, crying out with laughter. The shotgun was loud. Its reports made Lynn's ears ring. Shortly after, something like rage flashed through the man's eyes. He took aim at Lynn._

 _His paralysis broke; the Loud father turned around before bolting back to the car. Quickly, he made it to the driver door, and grabbed it for support. He was going too fast to stop normally, so, holding the door, he used his momentum to fling himself into the driver's seat._

 _The man walked slowly forward, holding the sight of his shotgun up to his eye. He fired quick bursts; the shots echoed out, and the bullets hit the van with a horrible clatter. The sound of brass on metal was overwhelming._

 _Rita screamed, and Lynn frantically turned the steering wheel to the right while slamming down on the gas. The van hitched forward. Lynn turned it around, driving away from the man, and quickly so._

 _On one last attempt, the man took special effort to aim. He pointed his weapon at the van wheel, and, after steadying the shotgun, squeezed the trigger. Multiple bullets hit the back left wheel of Vanzilla, popping it. He fired again, this time hitting the back right wheel._

 _In the car, Lynn expended all of his efforts attempting to steady the vehicle. The steering wheel spun wildly, however, and he was powerless to take hold. Out of Lynn's control, Vanzilla made a sharp right turn and, because of it's great speed and weight, crashed through the cliff's guardrail with little resistance._

 _Both Louds screaming, the van tumbled down the side of the cliff, throwing up dust and rock in its wake. When it hit the ground, all windows were broken. The roof was caved in. The hood of the car had popped off, and smoke arose from the now broken engine._

 _Lynn's vision went blurry. He looked up._

 _The beautiful, orange sky was the last thing he saw before passing out from the pain._


	8. Bateman's Meeting

**Lucy**

7:45

When the day of the meeting rolled around, Lucy awoke to her alarm in a cold sweat. That night, she had the same dream again.

She had been dreaming a lot since the flu struck. Most of her dreams, however, revolved around war. She was always either fighting, running from gunfire, or watching on as her family died, helpless to do anything. She wanted to believe that these dreams were random, that her brain was just firing aimlessly while it slept. This, however, was wishful thinking. What are the odds that the dreamt of the same thing nearly every night without fail? Slim.

She made her way downstairs, Lucy being the first of the younger siblings to do so, like usual. At the breakfast table, the older siblings sat, speaking about their parents. They woke up earlier than everyone. Seven days a week, they searched the town for Lynn and Rita. So far, they had been unsuccessful.

"We've searched pretty much the entire town," Luan said helplessly. "I don't think they're in Royal Woods."

She made herself toast (she wasn't allowed to use the toaster before Captain Trips… now no one batted an eye) and moved to the living room to eat.

Listening to her sisters talk about her parents was too depressing, even for her.

* * *

 **Luna**

 _8:40 AM_

Just like the flier anonymously slipped under the Loud's front door said to do, the eldest Loud sisters showed up at the mall at nine o'clock sharp.

 **MEETING!**

 _time: 9:00 (don't be late!)_

 _place: lobby area of Royal Woods mall_

 _reason: we, as a community, must organize and prepare for the future_

"I guess somebody got a printer working," Lori said, chewing a store-bought (er… store-taken?) donut with one hand and examining the flier, not for the first time, with the other.

Once there, they walked through the main front entrance, into the common area of the building. A large fountain (unpowered — it's water was not running) dominated the middle of the room. The lights, too, were unpowered. Thankfully, the ceiling above the common area was nearly all glass, so sunlight poured into the room, lighting it up without the need for lights. On each side of the room, a set of escalators sat still and unpowered. This room was the biggest indoor open space in Royal Woods, and as such, it was easily able to pack all sixty-two attendees (Luna counted) into it.

The room was silent, save for the sound of infrequent quiet chatter.

Eventually, a man in a dark suit and red tie holding a briefcase ( _what's inside?_ Luna wondered) made his way up the left side escalator. On the second floor, he ran his hand along the railing as he made his way to center himself above the gathered crowd.

Once in place, he began.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he said loudly. His voice echoed off of the walls of the mall. It sounded weird and unnatural. Malls usually had lots of people in it, but with only sixty or so, there wasn't much to block sounds. "My name is Patrick Bateman. I have called this assembly for one reason, and one reason alone… _survival!_ " His last word was louder than the rest, and it, too, bounced between the walls awkwardly. "Clearly, we have been thrust into a precarious situation. If we aren't careful, a lot can go wrong." Quiet whispers made their way around the crowd as Patrick paused. "A terrible tragedy has swept the nation and the world. We've all lost family, friends, communities… still, we must look not at the past, but at the future. We're only a small group of survivors that have only recently begun to settle into this town. If we want any chance at lasting, we need to organize, and quickly."

There was something about Patrick that Luna didn't like. Sure, he was attractive, athletic, and charismatic… still, though, there was an off putting factor about him. He conducted himself almost exactly like a politician. He sounded almost ungenuine. His suit rubbed Luna the wrong way, too. The significance of fancy and expensive clothing was now gone. All clothes, in all styles in sizes, were free; you just needed to waltz on town to any retail store in town. Still, every time Luna had seen him around town, he was wearing the same thing. What did that say about them?"

"This is not a grab for power. I called this meeting because I want to see this community thrive and prosper for years to come. The only way I see that happening is if we organize. After all, there's a lot that needs to be done. For one, if the bodies are not removed from the streets soon, they can quickly become a health hazard. We obviously need to get electricity and running water back online, too."

As Patrick spoke, Luna listened with skepticism. What he said make sense, but did he really mean it? She suspected not.

"In the short while I've been in Royal Woods, I've made friends and gotten to know most if not all of the people here. Based on what I've seen, I have been able to compile a list of capable leaders for each different task that needs to be done."

Patrick lifted up his briefcase and put it down on the ledge. Opening it, he took out a stack of papers. Next, he held out the papers before dropping them, letting them float to the ground slowly. When they finally came into reach, the meeting attendees grabbed copies. Luna, too, took a copy.

 **Leaders**

 **CLEANUP CREW ORGANIZER**

Organizes and manages the cleanup crew, tasked with cleaning the town of rubbish and bodies.

 _Gary Lambert_

 **HEAD OF DEFENCE**

In charge of preparations for hostile animals and humans.

 _Lee Atticus_

 **HEAD OF REPAIRS**

Tasked with ensuring the town is safe (glass and sharp debris removed) and that buildings are fixed.

 _Victor Mallion_

 **HEAD OF COMMUNICATION**

Manages a small radio crew to contact other survivors and, later, possibly other civilizations.

 _Jeremiah Curtis_

 **CHIEF OF POLICE**

Keeps peace within the community. Is allowed to appoint one officer per every 100 citizens.

 _Nunnally Venning_

 **RESOURCE MANAGER**

Ensures that there is enough food, water, clothing, etc. for all of the growing population.

 _Lori Loud_

Luna had to reread that last name a few times. _Lori_ was the resource manager? How did this come to be?

She looked over at her eldest sister. Lori, holding a copy of the paper in her hand, look confused as well.

"Why are you on here?" Luna whispered aggressively.

Lori shrugged her shoulders. She, too, did not know.

After the meeting, when the crowd dispersed and Patrick made his way down the stairs, Luna confronted him as he was making his way to the exit.

"So, why did you make my sister the resource manager?"

"What?"

"Lori Loud. Why did you pick her to be the resource manager?"

He paused. "You're part of that big family in the white house, right? From what I've heard, she's been taking care of you guys all by herself and doing quite well. I'm sure she'd do a splendid job making sure the town doesn't run out of food and what not."

Luna thought about it. Yeah, it sort of made sense, but why Lori? Surely there was somebody more qualified than her. Then again, there weren't many people in town right now. More were coming in, that was inevitable, so maybe Lori could hand the job off to somebody else one she found the right person?

Having nothing else to say to Patrick for the moment, Luna said her goodbye and rejoined with the rest of her siblings. When they were ready, they made their way home.

* * *

 **Lisa**

 _9:26_

Lisa was eating breakfast when Lynn, Luan, Luna, Leni, and Lori returned from the mall.

"How did the meeting go?" she asked with a full mouth.

Luna grunted. "He made Lori the resource manager, whatever that it. I—"

"Slow down. Who's 'he'"?

"That Bateman guy… Patrick. He kind of took charge of organizing everyone."

Lisa nodded. "Makes sense. He was one of the first to arrive, and he certainly has exemplary charisma."

"I don't like him," Luna said. "He just seems so… fake."

By now, the rest of the returned sisters had made their way out of the living room to take care of their own affairs. Lori made her way up to her room to prepare for her new task, Leni began to look around for Lincoln to ask him if the young ones had behaved while he looked after them, and Luan started up to her room to make a new diary entry, a habit she had picked up since the flu struck. Lynn, an exception, stayed in the living room, plopping down next to Lisa on the couch.

"Yeah," Lisa said. "Some people are like that." She adjusted her glasses. "So, there's a bunch of different committees now that are going to be performing different tasks that are advantageous to the community?"

Luna nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Is there anyone to make sure the committee leaders are on task? Who is going to make sure the committees are working together?"

"Uh… I don't know. He never said anything about that."

Lisa sighed. "This isn't good. Patrick either made a big oversight, or he _planned_ this. Eventually, an individual or a group of people are going to need to rise up to lead the community. That Bateman guy might have done this on purpose so that people turn to him when that time comes."

Luna grew angry. Now, she _really_ didn't like Patrick. "So, what can we do?"

"Bring up the subject of leadership and elections at the next meeting. Make sure Patrick doesn't appoint himself, either."

Lisa was right. Royal Woods was in a very fragile state, and Luna didn't want to see some power hungry asshole take command and ruin everything. She'd make sure it wouldn't happen.

By any means necessary.

* * *

 **Mother Abigail**

 _?:?_

Many miles away in Boulder, Colorado, an elderly black woman sat on her porch in a rocking chair. She knew not much of why or how Captain Trips was what it was, but she did know that it, like all things, was part of God's greater plan.

Her biggest concern was the community growing in Las Vegas. It's leader, Randall Flagg, was a dangerous, nefarious man. He kept things organized, though, and lots of people would no doubt follow him. She hoped God would soon tell her what to do about Flagg. Until then, she could only pray and focus on _her_ community. The ball was starting to roll, and survivors were pouring in at a decent rate now. Just recently, they had their first meeting.

Of course, there were also communities outside of Boulder and Vegas, just not as big. In a dream, she learned of a man seeking to reestablish the British monarchy. The Holy Britannian Empire was going to be big, but would it be hostile?

China, too, had a budding community in it. Soon, Abigail knew, they would come to be called the Chinese Federation. They had some of the most advanced weaponry and technology in the world, but would it be used for good… or for bad?

Closer to home, there was a small but growing group of survivors amassing in Royal Woods, Michigan, right outside of Detroit. Unlike Vegas, which was an 'evil' community, and unlike Boulder, which was a 'good' community, Royal Woods was mixed. Godless delinquents who only sought power were abundant in the Michigan community, but so were good people with good intentions.

Mother Abigail just hoped that the good people would win over the bad.


	9. Into the Night

**Leni**

 _4:30 PM_

Leni Loud was trying her best to be happy.

Of course, this wasn't very easy. Everyone she knew— her friends, her teachers, everyone she knew in town— was dead. Not only that, but her parents were missing. The initial shock of the Captain Trips virus was, thankfully, gone, but Leni still felt deep sadness for all of the loss she had suffered.

Still, she was a big sister, and big sisters don't let themselves cry. Not when you live with nine younger siblings that look up to you. When she was alone searching for her parents around the town, sure, she usually let a few tears out… sometimes a lot of them… but in the presence of Lincoln and her younger sisters, she kept it together. She knew that they, too, were suffering, and if they saw her break down in a sob, it would only make things worse. For their sake, she held it together.

Leni wasn't the brightest of the Louds, and she knew this. Still, she tried to contribute in any way possible. When she wasn't searching the town for her parents, Leni did what she could to help out. She made sure the cupboards and fridge were full of food (the fridge, obviously wasn't on, so it couldn't preserve any cold foods… nonetheless, without power, it doubled as a storage cabinet and was now used as such), she made sure the pets were fed and taken care of, and she replaced any old batteries in the various lamps, radios, and other electronics around the house.

She was a natural caretaker. Leni had always enjoyed looking after not only her younger siblings, but children in general. Before the flu, she had a volunteer job at the local nursery. Her first choice of a job was to work at the pet store (the animals there were _totes_ adorable!) but she failed the written test on the application. Oh well. Taking care of humans was just as fun, and even better in some ways.

Because of her desire to look after young ones, Leni was pretty disappointed when Lori insisted that Lincoln undertake the task of looking after Lily, Lisa, Lola, Lana, and Lucy. The eldest Loud insisted that _all_ of the older siblings spend as much time as they could searching for their parents… after all, the more time they were missing, the more likely they were gone for good.

That prospect scared Leni more than she'd like to admit.

* * *

 **Lincoln**

 _8:52 PM_

The sky was clear; puffy, pure clouds drifted lazily above, and somewhere, not far away, birds chirped. A gentle late-October breeze rushed by, causing the grass to stir and Lincoln to shiver.

 _Wow,_ the boy thought, _it's pretty nice out._

With most people dying and society crumbling, one might think that the weather would reflect this morbid reality… but, no. Nature carried on as usual. Really makes you think… are humans really as important as they think they are?

Presently, Lincoln was standing on the doorstep of Mrs. Johnson's house… er, old house. Now, Gary Lambert lived in it. Gary was a man in his early forties that Lincoln met when he came over and helped him bury a body. After the shared experience, the two were now more or less friends. Huh. Funny how such a melancholy experience can bring people closer.

Lincoln wasn't here to chat, though. He had something to ask his new friend. Gary had been appointed as the Royal Woods Cleanup Crew Organizer by Patrick at the meeting two days ago. When Lincoln heard about this, he was happy. Gary was a nice man, and seemed to want to honestly want to make Royal Woods a better place. Lincoln didn't know of anyone more qualified than the job than him. Patrick made the right choice.

From what he heard, his siblings had mixed feelings about Patrick. He sort of took control of Royal Woods, and for that reason alone, he was bound to have some detractors. Still, it made sense for him to do so. He was charismatic and likable; not to mention, he was one of the first to arrive. If nobody stepped up to the plate, then not nearly as much progress would be being made.

Luna didn't like him the most. She said that he was a 'phony' and 'selfish'. Lincoln scoffed at this. Patrick was only doing what was best for Royal Woods. All he did so far was set up committees and give them leaders so things could actually start to get done. It's not like he made himself king or anything. Heck, right now, Patrick was in no position of power. There was another meeting coming up soon, so maybe then he'd make himself the President or CEO or something of Royal Woods. Lincoln would like that.

Lori, too, was on edge about Bateman, but she didn't despise him like Luna did. He made her the Resource Manager, after all, so she couldn't hate the guy.

When asked of Leni what she thought about Bateman, she shrugged her shoulders and simply said " _We'll see what he does._ "

Luan liked him the most out of all of the older sisters. She said he was " _strong"_ and " _noble"_ and " _the savior of Royal Woods"_. Lincoln thought that maybe this was going maybe a little bit to far, but, oh well, to each their own.

Lynn, unlike the rest of the older Louds, had no real opinion on him. When Lincoln asked what he was like at the meeting (the meeting that he didn't get to go to… he was getting sick of watching the younger ones… he'd have to talk to Lori about that soon), she shrugged and said _whatever_ in monotone. Lincoln would expect that from _Lucy_ , but not _Lynn_.

Maybe she was just down in the dumps because all of her friends were dead and her parents were missing. All of the Louds weren't in the best mood as of late, but they pushed on. There was still hope, after all. Lynn and Rita were probably out there… they just needed to find them.

Lincoln knocked on the door. He put no extra force behind his knocks, but the sound that they made were loud and made him jump a little. Geez, with the town so empty, you could hear a needle drop. It was really eerie. Sometimes, it gave Lincoln the shivers.

Soon, Gary opened the door. He smiled when he saw Lincoln. Not many people talked about their lives before the flu… it was too soon. From the bits and pieces that Gary gave Lincoln, though, he could surmise that the man had been a father of three boys. Lincoln must have been like a new son to him.

"What's up, Lincoln?"

"Hey, Gary. I was just wondering if you were booked this week."

The man chuckled and shook his head. "Nonsense. We're always looking for volunteers. This is a small town, but we're only a little group of survivors… it's going to take awhile before we can get Royal Woods cleared out. We can use any help we can get."

Lincoln smiled and rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Oh, cool. I'm available after eight-thirty every day. I have to watch my little sisters until nighttime."

Gary nodded, and Lincoln saw something that resembled jealousy in his eyes. Gary was a really nice guy, but even the kindest souls could get a little green-eyed from time to time. It wasn't fair that everybody in the world had lost nearly all their friends and family… while Lincoln was able to keep all ten of his sisters.

"Come in," Gary said, motioning with his hand. Lincoln walked inside of the house and let the man close the door behind him. Mrs. Johnson lived alone, and didn't require a large home; likewise, Gary was a party of one. With every house in Royal Woods available for him to move in to, he picked Mrs. Johnson's small, cozy light yellow house with a white picket fence and a front yard garden. He didn't need nor want a big house. Nobody really did. What was the point?

Lisa talked a lot about the society forming in Royal Woods, and at one point she said people would start to move in with one another once they started to fall in love or once children came into town. With everyone having just lost their families, there would no doubt be a large amount of people willing to spend their time looking after a little one.

Lincoln plopped himself down on the living room couch while Gary walked over to a wall and grabbed a clipboard that was hanging on it.

"I can put you down for the night shift," he said, writing. "Are you sure you want to do it every day?"

Lincoln thought. "Actually, can I have weekends off?"

"Sure thing."

He wanted to spend his time doing something productive, but Lincoln figured that digging holes and moving around corpses was tiresome work. He needed time to unwind, just like anybody else.

Once he finished writing, Gary put the pen and clipboard back into their places on the wall.

"There's a meeting coming up," Gary said.

"I heard." Lincoln scratched the back of his neck. "So, uh, Patrick. What do you think about him?"

"From what I've seen," Gary said, collapsing into an armchair across from Lincoln, "he just wants to help. He's done well so far, don't you think?"

Lincoln nodded. "Yeah, things are really starting to get going now. I wonder how many other people are going to be coming."

"I'd say close to a million. Maybe more."

Lincoln's eyes went wide. " _That_ many?"

Gary nodded. "Well, yeah. I mean, how many people died from the flu? 99%? Even then, that still leaves a whole lot of people."

"My sister says 99.4%."

"Ah, Lisa. She's a real smarty pants."

Lincoln nodded.

"She's the talk of the town, you know. Being able to save your entire family and all."

Lincoln smiled. "Yeah, it's amazing what she can do." He paused. "Can Royal Woods even _fit_ one million people?"

Gary chuckled. "I really doubt it. Eventually, people are going to have to move into the surrounding towns. Maybe not Detroit, since that's going to be a nightmare to clean out. But I suspect that once Royal Woods is spic and span, my boys will move on to Hazeltucky or something."

There was a moment of silence.

"I just hope everything stays peaceful…" Lincoln said. "With that many people in one place…"

"Don't worry," interrupted Gary. "People are good at heart. And, if we get a few bad apples, I'm sure Nunnally will lock em' up for a long time."

Lincoln nodded. He'd never met Nunnally, but from what he'd heard, she was the sweetest person in the world until you made her mad or did something wrong… wow, Patrick really _did_ do a good job of picking the right people for the job.

The boy only hoped that things would continue to go smoothly in the coming years.

* * *

 **Lynn**

 _10:37 PM_

Guilt had overwhelmed Lynn for the past few weeks.

And now, she was going to confront it.

Her parents were missing because of her, and her alone. The Loud family spent their Sunday afternoons relaxing. But, because of her and her over competitive nature, they had to make a trip for the school. If they stayed home, they would have never gone missing. Lynn knew it was foolish to put all of the blame on herself— after all, it wasn't her fault that they went missing or that nobody could find them— still, if she had kept herself in check, they wouldn't have had to left the house in the first place.

It had been eating away at her ever since the flu struck. According to Lisa, they were immune to Captain Trips and its effects. Still, they had gone out during a dangerous time. The virus was spreading then, and society was just beginning to crumble. Lynn hoped and prayed that they were safe, that they had seen the danger and hid, and were still hiding. No matter how much she tried to comfort herself, though, Lynn's darker side always won out; she believed they were dead.

There was still hope, though, and as long as there was hope, the Louds would endure. Most of the town had been searched by now. That's saying a lot. Royal Woods was a pretty small and cozy place, but with only a team of five people searching, the majority of the town is a lot of ground to cover.

Lynn wanted to do as much as she could to assist the search, but _Lori_ always got in the way. She had been extra controlling in the days after the plague. Lynn could sort of understand this. After all, it wasn't an easy task to take care of ten other people all by yourself. Still… was it all really necessary?

 _Be home by 8:30 Lynn, no later!_

 _Lynn, you can't look in the industrial district— it's too dangerous. Leave that to me and Luna._

 _No, Lynn, you can't drive a four-wheeler around while you're looking._

That last one really got on Lynn's nerves. Lori wasn't able to drive Vanzilla around while she looked because the roads were completely blocked with deserted cars. Lynn, though, was skilled enough to drive a quad around. After all, despite her young age, she had plenty of practice from competing in local derbies. Still, Lori, being the overprotective dictator that she was as of late, insisted against this idea, saying it was too dangerous.

Bull.

Lynn would have spoken out against Lori… if not for the fact that she was being eaten away by guilt. She never admitted to being responsible for their parent's missing status, either. When her siblings had asked why Mom and Dad had gone to her school, she just simply shrugged and lied.

 _I don't know. They didn't tell me._

That changed now. Presently, alone in her room, Lynn took out her pen and a sheet of paper and began to write.

She'd be gone by next morning.


	10. Halloween

**Gary**

 _10:18 AM_

Arms crossed, and with an unaware smile on his face, Gary looked ahead.

"These boys are the best I found," Elmer said, motioning his arm to the garbage trucks. Gary, as head of the cleanup crew, had been looking for awhile, now, for a more efficient way of body disposal. At the moment, him and his crew located a corpse, dug a hole next to it, lowered the body into the hole, and covered it up. This process worked, but it was very slow.

Now, they would begin to try a new method. Just outside of Royal Woods was a few acres of field. There, one team would dig large, square holes. Six feet deep and six feet wide. While they worked, a second team would go around the town, piling corpses into the trucks. Once they were full, the garbage trucks would be driven to the hole site, where the bodies would be dumped and buried.

The trucks were garbage trucks. Part of Gary felt bad for ordering corpses to be put into garbage trucks like trash. They were human bodies, after all, and deserved more dignity.

The more logical part of Gary, however, knew that if the corpses continued to be buried one by one, it would be a terribly inefficient process, and before long, if it rained, the bodies could become a health issue. It had to be done this way.

"You did well," Gary said. "Now, we can probably clean up the whole town before Christmas."

Elmer Clump, Gary had heard, was one of the first people to come into town, along with Lee Atticus and Patrick Bateman.

"B-Bateman will be pleased," Elmer said quickly.

"Uhh… yeah, I guess."

There was something… _off_ about Elmer, Gary thought. Then again, not everyone was exactly normal after Captain Trips hit. People lost family, friends, and entire communities. Life as they knew it previously was over, and everyone in Royal Woods had been thrust into a new, alien, fighting world. With all of this, some people were bound to be a bit shaken.

Shrugging it off, Gary smiled. "Thanks for these trucks. I'll put them to good use."

Elmer nodded quickly and scurried off.

The rest of the morning went by peacefully for Elmer (with only a couple of hundred people living in town, how could it not?). He went home, made himself some coffee, had a couple of donuts, and read. Recently, he had been reading a lot of nonfiction, mostly nonfiction about bodies. It was a morbid subject, but Patrick made him the head of the cleanup crew. The biggest job of the cleanup crew, of course, was to remove all of the bodies from the streets of Royal Woods.

There was a lot to consider when disposing of the dead. It was better to be safe than sorry, because if someone got sick from handling a corpse improperly… there was a change that they could die. There were no doctors in town at the moment, after all.

He didn't like to talk about his past much (nobody did… not so soon after the flu), but Gary had three sons back at his home in Virginia. Watching his wife and three children all die, one by one… he didn't think he could handle witnessing any more death.

Not for a long, long time.

* * *

 **Lola**

 _9:37 PM_

It was October 31st. Halloween. Normally, this would call for costumes, candy, and a long, fun night of trick or treating.

Not tonight, though. In fact, probably not ever again. Lola knew that Captain Trips had changed the way the world worked. The old way of life was gone, erased permanently. Halloween, along with pretty much every other annual tradition, would likely never be able to happen again. Never again would she be able to go trick or treating.

For the past couple of weeks, with no school to go to, Lola had spent her entire days coloring, having tea parties, playing with her younger sisters, and watching recorded cartoons on the television. Lincoln had even allowed everyone to play outside again now that all of the bodies on their street were gone. They had to stay in the front and back yards, though.

If Lola had been told that this would soon become her life before the plague, she would have been ecstatic. It sounded like so much fun, after all.

It got old quick, though. She was bored. She missed her pageants. She missed her friends. She even missed going to school!

It was so unfair. Just because some idiot that worked at a research center made a mistake, most people in the world had to _die?_ Life had to change completely for everyone? If she ever found the person responsible, she'd strangle him.

It had been hard on Lola for the past few weeks, but she tried to stay positive. Lisa was always reminding her how lucky she was to have not only survived, but have had all of her siblings survive, too. Everyone currently living in Royal Woods expect for the Loud family had lost all of their family members. They were lucky if they even have had a friend survive Captain Trips.

Lola may have had lost all her friends, but she still had family. Nobody else could say that.

Presently, she sighed and looked out of the living room window. It was becoming nighttime. Darkness began to press against the window.

The front door opened, and Leni poked her head in.

"Lisa! Lola! Lana! Lucy!" she called. "Come down here! I have a surprise."

Curious, Lola went to Leni. Lana came from the kitchen, and Lisa and Lucy came down from upstairs.

Lana bounced up and down on her feet, excited. "What's the surprise?"

Leni smiled. "It's Halloween, right?"

"Yeah," Lucy said, "why?"

"Well, why aren't you out trick or treating?"

Lola frowned. Leni was sweet as could be, but sometimes, her mind wandered… this was one of those times. Had she forgotten that most people on earth had just _died_ not less than a month ago? Halloween was canceled. Permanently.

"Uh, Leni…" Lisa said. "Don't… don't you remember?"

She gave an innocent expression of confusion. "Remember _what?_ "

"Captain Trips," Lisa said quickly. It was difficult for her to mention the name of the flu, so she got it over with quickly.

Leni laughed. "Oh, that doesn't matter! I talked to the people in town. They all grabbed some candy from the stores around town. They're waiting for you guys. Go upstairs and get on your costumes!"

"Y-You mean, you organized Halloween again?"

Leni nodded.

The four children's mouths curled upward in a goofy smile.

"What are you waiting for? You can't trick or treat without a costume, you know. Go upstairs and get ready!"

* * *

 **Lincoln**

 _9:48 PM_

Lincoln smiled as, from the back of the garbage truck, he passed and saw his little sisters dressed up in their Halloween costumes.

He knew about Leni's plan to organize Halloween this year in spite of Captain Trips, and he was honestly impressed. Leni could be a ditz sometimes, but she really did care about the family, and always stayed positive.

Lincoln would have gone with them, but only little kids go trick or treating, and he wasn't a little kid anymore. Not after Captain Trips. He had to step up to the plate and take some responsibility. With the Loud parents gone, and with Royal Woods in a fragile state, Lincoln had to pitch in in any way he could. That's why he joined the cleanup crew. That's why, instead of going around town and collecting candy right now, he was cleaning up bodies.

He was only eleven, but Lincoln had gotten used to seeing a dead person. It wasn't so bad once you got used to it. A few weeks ago, when he was walking to an arcade and saw a body under a tree, he almost threw up. He persevered, though, and with the help of Gary, buried it.

Now, he was burying dozens of bodies a day. He was the youngest person on the cleanup crew, but he worked hard. Gary, the main organizer and leader of the crew, had suggested to Lincoln that he take easier jobs, like sweeping up glass and debris around the streets of Royal Woods.

He refused, however. He needed to toughen up. For his family.

For his parents, too.

Lincoln felt bad everything he thought of his parents. They were likely outside of Royal Woods. There were a couple of hundred people living in town, now, and chances are, they'd be found by now. Why, though, would they leave town in the first place? God might know, but Lincoln Loud did not. It made no sense.

The truck screeched to a stop as Gary put on the brakes. Lincoln hopped down from off of the back of the garbage truck and began to get to work.

Cleaning up bodies was a meticulous process. If done improperly, there could be health issues. At all times when on the job, Lincoln wore a medical mask. It was blue, and it went over his mouth, held by a string that went around his head and behind his ears.

Once he found a corpse, he would first straighten it out. The arms needed to be at the body's side, and the legs needed to point downward. This way, it would fit into a bag once Lincoln was ready to stuff it. The bag was thrown into the back of the garbage truck, and this continued until the load was full. Next, the truck was driven to one of the holes that other members of the cleanup crew were digging right outside of the town. Once these holes were full, they were covered back up with dirt. Rinse and repeat until Royal Woods was clean.

When this new cleanup process was introduced, Lincoln was unsure if it was right. After all, shouldn't the dead be buried more respectfully? The bodies were being treated like big hunks of trash, not things that were previously human beings.

Lincoln had voiced his concern with Gary. Gary had agreed that the dead deserved better, but still, he insisted that it had to be done this way. If they took their time to bury the bodies the proper way, it would rain before the town could be cleaned up, and people would get sick. It wasn't like you could just go down to the clinic to get checked out by a doctor whenever you want, after all. Those days were over. Even a broken leg could be fatal.

Reluctantly, Lincoln agreed with Gary. This is how it had to be done.

Hopefully, doctors would come into town soon. Not only that, but Royal Woods was in desperate need of electricians, farmers, and carpenters… _lots_ of different people with specific skill sets, in short.

Thankfully, Lisa was smart. Right now, she was working on getting the Royal Woods broadcasting station back up and running again. That way, the town could communicate with people hundreds of miles away. Once that happened, lots of new people would come. If Lisa's plan worked, in a few months, Royal Woods likely would have just as many residents as it did before Captain Trips. Hell, maybe more. In fact, there might be too _many_ people for the town to handle at one point down the road.

They'd have to move into the surrounding towns, Lincoln supposed. Not Detroit, though. The city just had too many bodies… all rotting in the hot sun…

Maybe, in a few _years_ , when the town had a cleanup crew of thousands of people, they could clear out Detroit. Until then, though, Lincoln was fine with staying in Royal Woods.

"Good job, Link," said Gary, patting Lincoln on the back. He'd bagged up the first body that night. Gary picked it up and threw it in the back of the truck.

There would be many more bodies to clean before Lincoln could go home. If he worked hard, though, the town would be clean before long.

* * *

 **It's been awhile since I updated this story (about a month and a half), and that's because of a few reasons. Primarily, though, it was because I uploaded the first chapter of a new story, Singled Out, and it received a lot of attention. Life As We Know It has been the most fun for me to write out of anything I've ever uploaded to , and I've released a new chapter every 2 or 3 days before I took a break for it. When Singled Out grew a big following, however, I decided to focus on that since a lot more people were reading it, despite how much fun I've had with this one.**

 **I want to get back into writing this story, and I have some pretty big things planned, but I'd like input before I commit to it. Are you guys enjoying this story? Do you want more?**


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